No. 13. - Concrete Structures: the Challenge of Creativity - 5th fib Symposium Proceedings - 26-28 May 2004 - Avignon, France PDF format

In his invitation to the 2004 fib Symposium in Avignon, Mr. Gilles de Robien, Ministre de l’Équipement, des Transports, du Logement, du Tourisme et de la Mer, stated:

“The technical progress will not slow down in this beginning of the 21st century. In fact, the discovery of new materials with surprising performances and the wide possibilities of combining these materials offer a fantastic opportunity to conceptual engineers. This does not mean that we should pursue extraordinary technical achievements merely for fun, but rather that we must progress toward safer and more sustainable structures.”

This statement is well illustrated by all the papers selected for publication in these Proceedings.

Most of them were presented orally during plenary sessions, featuring keynote speeches by leading international experts, as well as in parallel sessions covering the following themes:

• Evolution of concrete and concrete properties, including fibre-reinforced concrete
• Evolution of reinforcement, including FRP and textile reinforcement
• Performance of concrete structures (mainly laboratory testing)
• Improvement of concrete surfaces, particularly in terms of appearance
• Development of modelling and computational techniques
• Safety concepts
• Information technology and structural monitoring
• Structures with Ultra-High Performance Concrete
• Combination of materials in structural applications
• Versatility of concrete in structural design
• Large buildings and bridges

However, some of the selected papers could not be included in these Proceedings for various reasons. They will be published later in the fib journal Structural Concrete.

Jean-Philippe Fuzier
Chairman of the Organizing Committee